A Doppler ultrasound uses sound waves to produce images of blood moving through your circulatory system. The images show the direction and speed of blood as it flows through your arteries or veins. They also show blood flow through your heart.
Results from a Doppler ultrasound help healthcare providers identify problems with your heart and blood vessels.
Ultrasound, also called sonography or ultrasonography, is a noninvasive imaging test. A standard ultrasound produces images, but it doesn’t show blood flow like a Doppler ultrasound.
The different types of Doppler ultrasounds include:
Color Doppler: A computer changes the sound waves into different colors to show the direction of blood flow
Spectral Doppler: Graphical representation of blood flow over time
Duplex ultrasound: Combines traditional ultrasound pictures with Doppler ultrasound. It can check the width of blood vessels and can help show blockages.
Power Doppler: This test is used to shows the presence of blood flow and can be used to show very slow blood flow. It doesn’t show the direction of blood flow. Providers may use power Doppler to study blood flow inside organs
Transcranial Doppler ultrasound: A transcranial Doppler ultrasound examines blood flow in your brain to detect strokes or subarachnoid hemorrhages
The ultrasound probe sends sound waves into your body. The sound waves bounce off of moving blood cells in blood vessels and go back to the probe to be detected. The computer looks at the change in pitch (low or high sounds) between the sound waves sent into your body and the echo (sound that bounced back) to figure out the direction of blood flow and how fast the blood is moving.
Your circulation, such as how fast or slow blood is moving
If something is stopping blood flow
Blood going in the wrong direction or pooling in a blood vessel
